Comets down Heat, win 4th straight at home

Kellan Lain and Alexandre Grenier scored first period goals, Benn Ferriero scored into an empty net with two seconds to play and Joacim Eriksson turned aside 21 shots as the Utica Comets scored a 3-0 American Hockey League victory over the Abbotsford Heat on Friday at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.

Not after defeating the Abbotsford Heat 3-0 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium Friday for their second victory over the American Hockey League's Western Conference co-leaders in three nights and the fourth in the last four meetings between the teams.

Not after winning their fourth consecutive game at the Aud – this one in front of a hooting, screaming crowd of 3,225 - their fourth in their last five overall and sixth of their last 10.

"We're coming together as a team," said Cal O'Reilly, who has played a significant role in the Comets' recent surge and who had a key assist in Friday's win. "We're starting to build an identity as a team with a lot of speed that is hard to play against."

Kellan Lain, Alexandre Grenier and Benn Ferriero scored for the Comets (10-15-1-1 and no longer at the bottom of the league), Joacim Eriksson earned his second shutout of the season with 21 saves – he is 4-0 with a 1.48 goals-against average and .953 save percentage in his last four starts – and Brandon DeFazio, Peter Andersson, Colin Stuart, O'Reilly and Ferriero picked up assists. Joni Ortio made 20 saves for the Heat (20-9-1-1).

The Comets are off until Boxing Day, the day after Christmas – "A well-deserved rest," said Coach Travis Green, who celebrated his 43rd birthday with the win – and won't play against until next Friday and Saturday, when the Binghamton Senators and then the Hamilton Bulldogs visit.

"We're obviously playing better," Green said. "We're not thinking, just reacting. They're playing at a high pace. Our goalies and our defense are playing a lot better. Our forward group plays extremely hard. … Our execution is starting to be a lot more consistent."

Veteran Kent Huskins, added nine games into the season, has helped solidify the back line, and O'Reilly has been an important element on offense and penalty killing. A veteran of more than 100 National Hockey League games and six AHL seasons, he came back from Russia to sign with the Comets last month. Since then he has scored two goals and added eight assists, adding a good measure of savvy and skill, and it is probably no coincidence Utica has gone 8-5 since he arrived.

"Cal has been unbelievable," said Grenier, whose first-period power play goal – a surprise, back-to-the-net backhander from the crease – came on a slick pass from O'Reilly and gave the Comets a 2-0 lead. "He controls the pace of the game when he's out there. We're lucky to have him."

"He's meant a lot," Green said. "Any time you can add a top-line guy with skill, that's good. He adds creativity to our group. He can slow the game down without slowing our team down. He's a good player and a good addition to our team."

Page 2 of 2 - Just as they did in Wednesday's 4-2 win over the Heat, the Comets jumped to a 2-0 lead. Lain netted his fifth goal of the season at 5:53 as he and DeFazio broke in two on one. The Comets then killed a Heat power play - Abbotsford came in second in the league at 26.3 percent - and then scored on their own extra man chance when O'Reilly slid a half-speed pass to Grenier at the left post, setting up the backhander that surprised Ortio on the short side.

The Comets kept it 2-0 through two periods, killing off another Heat power play, with O'Reilly, Ferriero, Pelletier and Stuart doing the job up front, backed by Alex Biega, Yann Sauve, Frank Corrado and Huskins.

Both team had good chances in the third period, but Eriksson, sharp all game, didn't bend, and Ferriero put it away with his long empty netter at 19:57.

After next weekend, the Comets continue their longest home stand of the season – seven games – with a visit from the Lake Erie Monsters at 3 p.m. New Year's Day and another from the Rochester Americans Jan. 3.